The United States and China have been engaged in strategic competition for years — a fact that only the U.S. has been slow to recognize.

But for the U.S. to prevail, it must recognize that the successful strategy of the last Cold War, containment, will not work against its new adversary. Seventy-five years ago this past February, a U.S. State Department employee named George Kennan dashed off what would later be called the “Long Telegram.” Kennan expressed his concerns over the aims, objectives, and growing power of the Soviet Union. The diplomat’s 8,000-word missive would later become famous, both for signaling the formal U.S. recognition of what would be dubbed the “Cold War” and as a precursor of sorts for the strategy that would lead to victory.